20,000 camels - quenching the thirst of the EEF

By early 1916, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was using nearly 20,000 camels in its transport lines. Camels were organised in companies of about 2,000 led by Egyptian drivers.

Well with horn bucket, Palestine

The water needs of troops on the front line was often supplied by camel convoys with each camel carting two small 12.5 gallon tanks known as fanatis.

Filling fanatis near Jaffa, 1918

I could not resist having a well and camel train (of sorts) to populate a corner of the battlefield. As warmers, I think we often politely ignore the presence of the transport required to get troops into the firing line and supply them when they are there.

Camels with 'well sets'

So, in recognition of all this necessary 'graft' going on behind the lines, here is a scratch build of a couple of hardy engineers pumping up the brackish water from a desert well 'somewhere in Palestine' into the fanatics - ready for carting off to the line.

A05802. Probably PALESTINE, C. 1917. WATER PUMPS USED BY 1ST FIELD SQUADRON ENGINEERS

The two Royal Engineers are Eureka British in Sinai gun crew (yes, I use them for everything!) and the camel are Irregular Miniatures Egyptian Camel Corps (FZ88) with their riders lopped off.

Assembling the well - I'm a slow bricklayer!

Engineer at the well building up a sweat on the water pump

The fanatis display their balsa construction - should have used card!

Its enough to make a chap thirsty. Thanks for looking.

EEF digs in - Battlefield Accessories' Hasty Entrenchments

Not a great deal of progress was made on miniatures this weekend - although a scratch-built Ottoman blinkgerat is on the painting table (second from left in picture below).  These were a signalling lamp powered by acetylene gas and that could be used when there was no sun.

However, I was able to finish off a set of 'hasty entrenchments' I'd purchased a while ago from Battlefield Accessories. These will provides my slowly expanding Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) with some cover while they await the Turks!

Heliograph team, Egypt and Palestine c1915 - Eureka 15mm British in Sinai conversion

In the BEF signals were dealt with by the Royal Engineers:

In 1914 each infantry Division included a Signals Company with a total strength of 162 men. It was organised into a Company HQ and 4 Sections, of which No 1 Section was responsible for communications with Divisional HQ and Nos 2-4 with the Brigades of the Division.
Source: http://www.1914-1918.net/whatfieldcoy.htm

Among the equipment available to the signallers, was the heliograph which employed a mirror (often mounted on a tripod) that was used to 'flash' Morse Code.

You can see some original footage of a heliograph in action here:

The heliograph was valued for its mobility, being quick to set up. It was a cheap signalling system with an impressive communication range in the right terrain. A 5 inch reflector had a signalling distance of some 50 miles (80 km), whilst the 9 or 12 inch models had a range of up to 80 miles (130 km). Best of all, in the Middle East theatre, there was plenty of sun!

Signals posts play an important role in the command system of If the Lord Spares us (ITLSU) rules by increasing the distance over which Battalion COs can operate effectively from the Brigade Commander-in-Chief.

There are no signals figures among the Eureka 15mm range so some conversion was necessary to obtain some signal posts. I have always liked the iconic images of heliograph teams operating in Egypt and Palestine, so wanted to put together some for my British.

The figures that provided the best conversion opportunity were the British in Sinai Artillery Crew (300HBC84). Here's a few pictures of how I approached the conversion.

The tripod is made of brass wire with a thin section of PVC tube for the mirror frame (white) and a circle of foil for the mirror itself (added after painting). Each 'leg' of the tripod was about 12mm / 0.5 inch.

I made some holes for the tripod using a heated nail. This is a 30mm base (~ 1 1/4 ") and the holes are 6mm (1/4") apart.

The tripod legs are glued in place.

The heliograph operator is made from the Eureka artillery crewman holding a shell. With the shell cut out it leaves his hands in quite a good position - looking like they are operating the Morse key behind the mirror.

The crewman with the coincidence-type range finder is adapted to a signaller holding binoculars. Most heliograph pictures show the spotter using a telescope - in this case I use some poetic license for convenience. It would be possible to scratch build a nice telescope on a tripod and cut away the second binocular lens.

The standing signaller has his base trimmed so the front foot will fit between the tripod legs.
Then, the signallers are ready to go!

For the first team I mounted the upright mirror frame strait on the apex of the tripod which was fiddly. This time I mounted a second piece of tube over the end as a base for the upright mirror. The made it easier, to mount the mirror frame but had the effect of raising the height of the heliograph a little. 

The mirror 'frame' is then glued in place.

The crew are mounted in place.

Heliograph completed. I painted the figures (in this case just the main colours blocked in) before I added the foil 'mirror'
on the front of the PVC tube frame.

Note that this was the first one I made - the above 'how to' pictures are of the second attempt where I used the second piece of PVC tube on top of the apex - you can see this earlier attempt sits a bit lower - I think this original team looks better, but it's quite fiddly getting the mirror frame to stick on the apex of the tripod.

I'm sure there are improvements that can be made to this approach - but this provides a quick and easy heliograph post.

As these teams will be supporting units of the 42nd Division (East Lancashire), I'm designating these as signallers from the 427th Field Company - identified thanks to the excellent resource on the Field Companies of the Royal Engineers on The Long, Long Trail.

A group of men of 527 (2nd Durham) Field Company, a Territorial unit that served under command of 5th Division. 

If the Lord Spares Us - Eureka Miniatures 'British in Sinai' 15mm

It seems the blogging hiatus is over! I'm back at the painting table and have started on a new project based on the Too Fat Lardies rules - If the Lord Spares Us - WW1 in the Middle East!

"Away from the quagmire of the Western Front ITLSU proves that brigade level games the Great War in the Middle East have components of everything; camels, arab war bands, sweeping cavalry attacks, opposed beach landings, massed machine guns, gas attacks, tanks, armoued cars, fighting in the mirage, water shortages, trench assaults, river gunboats - and enough command and control dilemmas to test the most cunning Pasha."

Source: http://toofatlardies.co.uk 

I'd been working on a 6mm (Irregular Miniatures) project for Gallipoli and the Middle East using Great War Spearhead II (and it's not abandoned), but I've wanted an excuse to buy some of Eureka Miniatures very nice WW1 15mm range – who can resist the Imperial Camel Corps, after all?          

To give me a little inspiration, I'm reading The Palestine Campaign by Field Marshal Earl Wavell P.C, G.C.B, G.C.S.I, G.C.I.E, M.C. (3rd Edn. by Constable, London, 1954). 

My intention is to begin with the defence of the Suez and work on slowly from there. 

Actions around the Suez, 1915-1916, from Wavell (1954).

Terrain is something I'll have to get working on, but the main effort will be on painting up a few infantry battalions for the British (and her dominions) and Ottomans, then onto some mounted, artillery, and armoured cars!

I must also thank Mark Hargreaves of the Over Open Sights for his generous provision of painting guides covering the Middle East campaigns - I strayed away from his recommendations (painting with what I had), but the inspiration was very well received. Thanks Mark!

Well, I am unashamedly a 'middle of the road' painter of miniatures - nevertheless, I enjoy it. Here's a few snaps of my first attempt. Two companies (4 bases per company in ITLSU) of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Territorial Division. These stout fellows did it all - defence of the Suez (1915), Cape Helles (May 1915 to January 1916), Egypt and the Sinai Campaign (1916 to 1917), and Western Front (1917 to the Armistice in 1918).

Their battle honours include:

• Battle of Gallipoli: Second Battle of Krithia; Third Battle of Krithia; Battle of Krithia Vineyard
• Battle of Romani
• Third Battle of Ypres
• First Battle of the Somme (1918): First Battle of Bapaume
• Second Battle of the Somme (1918): Battle of Albert (1918); Second Battle of Bapaume
• Battle of the Canal du Nord
• Battle of the Selle

But, as they say, 'Pictures! Or it didn't happen!'

Coronel, 1 November 1914

'I shall not see you again, Allardyce ...'
Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock to Sir William Allardyce, Govoner of the Falkland Islands, On his departure to search for von Spee, October 1914.

After sailing from the Falklands, Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock rounded the Horn with HMS Good Hope (flag), HMS Monmouth, HMS Glasgow and the Armed Merchant Cruiser Otranto. Cradock had cabled the Admiralty on 22nd October 1914 that he was going to round Cape Horn in search of Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee's German East Asia Squadron.

The East Asia Squadron (and Chilean cruisers in the foreground) leaving Valparaiso harbour in Chile,  

In the hunt for von Spee, Cradock had been lured north along the Chilean coast after HMS Glasgow picked up signals from SMS Leipzig indicating she was operating nearby. Von Spee capitalised on this by ordering all signals from his squadron to be prefixed with the Leipzig's call sign. Cradock was keen for a fight and, as night fell on 31 October, ordered Glasgow to meet him 80 km west of the port of Coronel at noon the next day.

On the morning of  1st November, Cradock's squadron was steaming north. The dawn had seen rising seas, scudding clouds and a strengthening breeze from the south-east. HMS Canopus had signalled that she was was 500 km to the south and steaming to meet them. As the day wore on, the seas grew heavier with 3 to 5 metre waved and nearly gale force winds of 30 knots.

HMS Canopus (in her heyday) off Gibraltar by Charles Dixon (1901)

Leipzig and Glasgow spotted each other at almost simultaneously at 16:17. Both called their crews to action stations and moved to engage. It was only a matter of minutes before the masthead lookout on the Glasgow spotted more smoke and realised they had found the entire East Asia Squadron!

The Glasgow signalled the news to Cradock and turned back to the south-west to join the rest of the squadron. Craddock ordered his ships to form up in line astern behind him and set a southerly course almost parallel to von Spee. As the sun sunk in the west, Cradock gambled on the dazzling effect of the sunset behind him to give him some advantage over the German gun layers.

SMS Scharnhorst at Coronel

Sunset was at 19:00. At 19:05, von Spee's ships opened fire with deadly effect. The fate of Cradock's South Atlantic Squadron was soon sealed. Good Hope and Monmouth were sunk with all hands – 1,600 British officers and men were dead with Cradock among them – Glasgow and Otranto both escaped.

HMS Good Hope (Cradock's flagship) on fire at the action at Coronel, 1 November 1914, by W.L. Wyllie

Of Cradock's circumstances, Sir Julian S Corbett wrote:

It is not without emotion that one contemplates the feelings of so fine an officer when suddenly he found himself face to face with the hopeless situation into which, against all his protests and better judgment, he clearly believed himself to have been forced. A cloud that can never be lifted has fallen on one of the most tragic moments in our Naval history. All we can ever know is the silver lining.

HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR - NAVAL OPERATIONS, Volume 1, to the Battle of the Falklands, December 1914 (1920) by Sir Julian S Corbett, Accessible at:  http://www.naval-history.net/WW1Book-RN1b.htm#25

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of this tragic encounter in the south-west Pacific in the opening months of the Great War, I dusted off my 1:2400 Panzerschiffe ships and played the Battle of Coronel scenario provided with Grand Fleets II naval rules.

Purnell's History of the First World War (c. 1970) - possibly the first place I read of the action at Coronel! 

Historically, Cradock, on sighting von Spee's squadron, brought his ships about to cruise in line astern parallel to the enemy – the two lines of ships steaming south separated by 16,500 metres of rolling seas. Cradock's plan was to use the setting sun to his advantage – dazzling the German gun layers.

However, in this scenario, Cradock ordered his squadron to reform from line abreast to line ahead, and steered them a few points off their northerly heading towards von Spee to make a pass on the seaward side of the German line of battle.

16:45, 1 November 1914, von Spee's East Asiatic Squadron (sailing south, bottom left) is sighted by Cradock (heading north, top right) in heavy seas off the port of Coronel on the Chilean coast (off to the left of the picture).

Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee's East Asiatic Squadron - the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau and the light cruisers SMS Dresden and SMS Leipzig (sailing backwards in this picture to taunt the British!) 

Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock's South Atlantic Squadron - at Coronel he had the armoured cruisers HMS Good Hope (Cradock's flagship), and HMS Monmouth, the light cruiser HMS Glasgow and a converted liner—HMS Otranto.

Just on sunset (below), the two squadrons in line of battle pass each other at medium range. Von Spee orders Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to direct the first salvos of the engagement towards HMS Glasgow, the lead British ship. German gunnery is intense, and accurate with three hits on Glasgow by Scharnhorst, knocking out a main 6" gun and two secondary 4" guns. HMS Glasgow's salvo causes only minor damage to Scharnhorst.

As the light begins to fade (below), von Spee orders all this ships to engage the British line - Glasgow (lead ship, bottom left of picture), Monmouth and Good Hope (at the rear). The setting sun outlined the British allowing the German fire controllers to send in several deadly salvos. 

• Dresden and Leipzig achieve two hits on the Glasgow knocking out two 4" guns. 
• Monmouth takes three hits from Gneisenau – one critical and causing a major fire – the other two knock out two 6" guns. 
• Good Hope takes two hits from Scharnhorst knocking out two guns. 
• The thin-skinned liner Otranto shelters further out to sea behind the British line of battle. 

Cradock orders his ships to return fire, but in the rolling seas, the British gunnery is mostly ineffective although a critical hit by Monmouth causes a fire on Gneisenau.

As darkness falls (below), von Spee orders his squadron to come about and pick off the battered and disordered British line. Glasgow had already limped out to sea critically damaged. As Gneisenau, Leipzig and Dresden (top right of picture, L to R) close in and train their guns on the burning British ships, Scharnhorst (bottom centre) swings in a wide arc hoping to cut off any route of escape for Good Hope (centre) and Monmouth (upper left).

• Gneisenau lands two final hits on the Monmouth – she is crippled with no armaments intact.
• In the gloom Good Hope's gunners pick out the Scharnhorst and unleash a furious salvo with five hits hammering the German Flag – the Bridge receives a direct hit, major flooding is caused but is contained with a quick reaction by the damage crews.
• Leipzig responds to the last stand of the Good Hope, knocking out the Flag's fire control and the two remaining 6" guns to starboard. 
• Dresden's gunners find the lumbering bulk of the Otranto in the darkness and four hits find their mark causing significant structural damage and knocking out two 4.7" guns to starboard.

In the darkness, Cradock's mortally wounded squadron limps out to sea as the crews attempt to douse fires and stem any flooding. Casualties are heavy, but the knowledge that von Spee's squadron still hunts in the darkness means that all available attention must be given to reforming and (hopefully) slipping away under cover of night.

Cradock's thoughts turn to how he might get past von Spee in the night and, hopefully, make harbour at Coronel in the morning. One might also pass a thought for HMS Caonopus, over 500 km (300 nautical miles) to the south of their current position, how Cradock could have used her 12" guns that evening!

Actually, this is damage to the deck of HMS Chester sustained during the battle of Jutland – one can only imagine the challenge of making repairs on ships damaged in actions far from their home port. 

For the Germans, much depended on what damage the shells of the HMS Good Hope had wreaked on the bridge of the Scharnhorst in the last minutes of the engagement – was von Spee wounded? Was he dead? Would the east Asiatic Squadron press on after Cradock or slip away south and round the Horn? Theirs was a tactical victory at the very least – but safe harbour at Wilhelmshaven was literally half a world away!

The Swan of the East (II)

For the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Cocos – Australia's first naval victory where HMAS Sydney intercepted and sank the notorious raider SMS Emden on 9th November 1914 – I commemorated the historic engagement with three events:

• An early morning 'light' version of the battle with my 7 year old lad
• A re-enactment (of sorts) of the engagement in 1:2400 scale
• A 'what if' refight of the duel straying from the historical outcomes a little!

Emden vs. Sydney (i): a fun 'light'version

Father (Sydney - mid right hand side) and son (Emden, bottom left)  face off

We quickly came to grips and the young guy's dice rolling won the day for him!

Emden vs Sydney (ii): historical outcome

For the actual time of the anniversary, I programmed my phone with the main stages of the duel (using Cocos Island times GMT + 6:30) and followed the action on the table.

Emden vs Sydney: The re-match!

Finally, late on the evening of 9th November I allowed myself to stray away from the historical, and conduct a re-fight between these old foes!

The opening salvo from HMAS Sydney falls short!

The second salvo from Sydney falls short - the range finders need a strong cup of tea.

Sydney's gunners find their target - they straddle the Emden, no hits.

Emden seeking to close distance on Sydney to bring her guns into range. 

Emden's salvo falls short, Sydney's gunnery starts to tell on the Emden.

SMS Emden had taken heavy damage and lost a few guns firing into her port arc.

A momentary lapse in the accuracy of Glossop's guns allow von Muller to draw into close range.

Nearly crippled, SMS Emden is locked into this fight. To fall away from the action would only mean the end with Sydney's guns able to pound her from beyond Emden's maximum range.

Von Muller steers the Emden in close for what might be the final broadside as both Captains order torpedo attacks (both ineffectual). All of Emden's guns firing into the port arc were disabled in this clash.

In a rare stroke of luck in this game, von Muller gets the initiative and  steers behind the Sydney - crossing the T, launching a final torpedo and firing a furious salvo from her untouched starboard arc. The German gunnery is deadly accurate pounding the Sydney. Sydney replies with her aft gun - a single hit at this stage will sink the Emden.

Disaster! Emden's torpedo strikes home and, along with the furious broadside, tips the balance. Sydney explodes in a sheet of flame and slips beneath the waves. Her single gun missing the near crippled Emden! von Muller - snatches victory, from the jaws of defeat!

So what does this jaw-dropping conclusion to a tense duel really mean for von Muller? His ship was critically damaged. With few (if any) safe havens in the Indian Ocean, his days of harassing trade are done. On news of the loss of the Sydney, one can only assume a second ship would have been dispatched to finish the Emden off. 

Perhaps von Muller's last act would have been to return to Direction Island and finish the task of destroying this important communication hub. If that were the case, the Emden's campaign in the east could still only be seen as a major success for the Imperial German Navy.

Wrecked telegraph station, Direction Island.

'What if's' aside, the real purpose of this game was to pause and acknowledge the terrible sacrifices on both sides that brought to an end this glorious chapter in naval history in the far east.

Crew of the HMAS Sydney after the battle with SMS Emden

SMS Emden's wounded under cover on the deck of the Sydney 

The final fate of SMS Emden, viewed from the deck of HMAS Sydney

A terrible end - SMS Emden beached in the surf on North Keeling Island

With thanks to: http://sydneyemden100.com.au/gallery#M247-06_SMS_Emden

 Vale!